upend
Americanverb (used with object)
-
upends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
upended,
past participle, past
-
upending
present participle
-
to set on end, as a barrel or ship.
-
to affect drastically or radically, as tastes, opinions, reputations, or systems.
-
to defeat in competition, as in boxing or business.
verb (used without object)
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upends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
upended,
past participle, past
-
upending
present participle
-
to become upended.
-
to place the body back-end up, as a dabbling duck.
verb
-
to turn or set or become turned or set on end
-
(tr) to affect or upset drastically
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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upendsimple
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upendssimple
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have upendedperfect
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has upendedperfect
-
am upendingprogressive
-
are upendingprogressive
-
is upendingprogressive
-
have been upendingperfect progressive
-
has been upendingperfect progressive
Past
-
upendedsimple
-
had upendedperfect
-
was upendingprogressive
-
were upendingprogressive
-
had been upendingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of upend
Explanation
When you upend something, you flip it over or tip it on one side. Tell your sister you won't play checkers with her anymore if she continues to upend the board angrily every time she loses. To move the table from one room to another, you might have to upend it so it'll fit through the door, resting it on one end. The other way to upend something is to invert it, or turn it onto the opposite side, the way you upend a bottle of root beer over a glass or upend your school bag and shake the contents onto your bed to find that lost pack of gum.
Vocabulary lists containing upend
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
False charges of AI cheating can tarnish academic records or upend career prospects of students.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
New Apple CEO John Ternus may want to watch his back, because Meta Platforms is making a play to upend the smartphone giant’s ecosystem, analysts say.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
They were often, by this point, already convinced something big was coming that would upend our social order, if not our entire understanding of the world.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
There are billions of dollars at stake and now a legal debate that could upend the entire merger arbitrage industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Between the two of us, we push and drag and tug that coffin out the narrow door, upend it, turn it around, and put it in the room next door.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
Whether the Lucas Museum upends the art world may depend less on whether other museums adopt its philosophy than on whether audiences embrace the connections it attempts to draw.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
"It really upends a theory that says that symbolic rule induction is not possible without linguistic capacities," says Kean.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
Oil traders tend to thrive in volatility that upends markets and threatens economies overnight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
In her stunning book “The Wild Iris,” she upends the ordinary practice in which the poet describes the word beyond the self.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
The Gefreiter drags a padlocked sack from beneath his table, unthreads a chain from its throat, and upends it onto a velvet-lined tray.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Only 2022 and 2023 were profitable following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which also upended energy markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
His widow Yvonne Akinyi described how the killing upended their family, saying their children were now orphans.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
The extreme heat has been linked to tens of thousands of excess deaths across Europe, upended daily life for millions in ill-adapted regions and disrupted the economy through drought and low river levels.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
First, it was the Eaton fire that upended their lives in January of 2025.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
But Mattie’s death had upended me; I couldn’t get my footing.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
A record-breaking El Nino will likely force the world's top chefs to rethink their menus ahead of droughts, floods and heatwaves upending global food systems.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Blume wants to slim down VW and reshape its global footprint, upending a decades-old business model where cars are designed and in some cases made in high-cost Germany for markets overseas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Ford made their name with the micro-indie, micro-focused “Test Pattern,” an act of upending as it dissected an interracial relationship’s fault lines in a moment of crisis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Life has a way of upending even the best financial plans.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
“Three minutes, who’s up?” he announced, upending an extraordinary ormolu-gilt hourglass and displaying a boiled egg with a pair of silver sugar tongs.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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